


it's just blocking practice.

by jupitersdiary



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Insecure Tsukishima Kei, Jealous Kuroo Tetsurou, M/M, Pining, Sexuality Crisis, Training Camp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:28:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29121930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jupitersdiary/pseuds/jupitersdiary
Summary: tsukkishima barely wants to go to this training camp, let alone fall in love there.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

As the bus bumps up and down with the holes in the road, Tsukkishima takes note of the scenery outside the window. The trees that grow farther apart as the city grows nearer, the birds that fly away as they roll by. The whirr from the weak bus AC is just barely louder than his cheap headphones, but it bothers him nonetheless. Debating whether or not he should just take them off and continue with his calculus homework, he hears Nishinoya burst out in laughter at some video Ennoshita is playing on his phone. He decides anything is better than listening to his senpais, and hits shuffle on his playlist. He glances next to him at a chuckling Yamaguchi, who is buried deep somewhere in his twitter timeline.

“Oi, Yamaguchi” He starts, “You’re shaking the whole seat. What’s so funny?”

Yamaguchi jumps in place a little, startled that he was being watched. “Oh! Nothing that you would find funny” he replies, and quickly switches to another app.

Tsukki raises a quick eyebrow, but quickly lets it drop when he realizes that he’s probably telling the truth. Most things on social media don’t really push him to laughter, especially not the things Yamaguchi retweets. Looking back to #12 on his math assignment, his eyebrows furrow. Mentally, he pushes himself to complete the entire problem without a calculator. The third time Tsukki tries to divide 78 by the reciprocal of z/.95, he gives up. Turning to ask Yamaguchi for his calculator, he is stopped by an arm already extended to offer him a TI-84. He offers a grateful smile, and takes the calculator from his childhood friend.

“You know Tsukki, you should really stop frowning like that. You’re going to develop wrinkles right here” Yamaguchi presses in-between his eyebrows, and wiggles his finger. Inhaling deeply, Tsukki pushes his hand away from his face.

“Well if you keep your hand there I’ll get a pimple” he rolls his eyes playfully, “Which is worse?”

Yamaguchi takes a second to think, and Tsukki realizes that he didn’t pick up on the rhetorical nature of the question. He laughs at Yamaguchi’s thinking face. “I’m kidding Yams.”

“Oh!” Yamaguchi smiles sheepishly, “Sorry Tsukki”

As the blond-haired boy turns back to focus on his worksheet, the bus comes to a stop. Turning to focus on what is currently outside of the window, he sees a group of boys huddled around and staring intently at what a certain blonde-haired boy was doing. Blinking to clear his line of vision, he now clearly sees Kenma playing something intensely on his DS, with every teammate entranced by his movements. Ah, Nekoma.

“Alright everyone” Coach booms from the front of the bus, snapping Tsukkishima away from the scene outside. “We’re here. Remember, this a great opportunity. You represent our school here, so no funny business.” Ukai makes special eye contact with Tanaka and Nishinoya, and they both sink into their chairs. “Am I clear everyone?”

“Yes!” They all shouted in unison, while Tsukki rushed to finish the last question on his worksheet before stuffing his folder into his bag.

“Alrighty then. Takeda will go greet the other coaches while I help you all unload. Then we will move onto the bathrooms. Let’s go!”

As Tanaka and Nishinoya push each other around to see who can get off the bus first, Daichi looms behind them both and forces them to sit and leave last. Just imagining what this trip would be like if Hinata and Kageyama were here gives Tsukkishima a migraine. Outside of the bus, it’s sunny and breezy. Tsukki’s favorite weather.

Sugawara hands him his duffel bag from the bottom of the bus, and he thanks him quietly. Tsukki slings his bag over his shoulder and moves towards the group of senpais waiting to move int o the main building. As he is arriving to the group, a rooster-headed boy approaches their Capitan. “Sawamura-san, long time no see! I was starting to miss my farmer boys.” Kuroo starts, “Where’s the rest of your starting lineup?”

“They failed their exams and are in supplementary classes~ They should be here later though.” Daichi finishes with a forced smile. Kuroo makes a snarky remark about their genius setter being a test flunker, and Daichi laughs in agreement.

Tsukki observes their interaction with much intention, noticing the underlying rivalry in their tone. Realizing that these two were never going to stop with the petty antics, Tsukkishima whips out his phone, pulls his headphones over his ears and presses play. As he looks back up to count how many more boys have finished unloading, and he can’t miss the dark eyes boring into his skull. Panicking and avoiding making eye contact, he calls Yamaguchi over to listen to his “new favorite song” (which is really the same song he made Yamaguchi listen to on the bus).

His thoughts are cut short by loud senpais. "IS THAT....... THE TOKYO SKY TREE????!”

Quickly shaken out of his enchantment, Kuroo bursts into laughter. “Are there no transmission towers in Miyagi?” Kenma questions with a smirk, suddenly appearing beside his capitan. As Kuroo continues to lose himself to laughter, Daichi mutters something in defense of his idiotic kouhai. The group finally finishes gathering their stuff, and they slowly move towards the main entrance of the gymnasium.

Clutching his stomach in recovery from his laughing fit, Kuroo regains balance and a level head. Noticing a tall pale figure lazily walking into the gym, he remembers his fascinated state a few moments prior. _hope he didn’t notice me staring… the fuck was that?_ He stops himself there, not particularly interested in looking into his thoughts about that moment any further. Kuroo sighs and heads into the gym behind Kenma, sneakily snatching his DS out of his hand on the way in. “Hey what the hell--“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my very first work, and I LOVE kurootsukki so I hope this does them justice. please let me know what you think, i will try to update every few days. thank you for reading!!


	2. Chapter 2

Wiping beads of sweat off his forehead, Tsukkishima groans at the unexpected drop in energy he is experiencing after that last match. Today they’ve played around 6 matches, and lost every single one. No help from the late first year duo, who seem more off their game than the rest. Every one here is extremely talented, and it reminds him of all of the work they have left before they can even think about facing Aoba Josai again.

 _tch._ Tsukki clicks his tongue. Being tired enough, he decides not to think about the future and rather focuses on the flying dive penalties he has yet to complete. Flying dives were by far the worst penalty that he could imagine, being so high up from the floor and having to jump down to glide across the hardwood. Not to mention that the gym floor is covered in sweat and dirt from shoes that have been god-knows-where. But Tsukki doesn’t seem to be focused on those things.

He’s more focused on the way he looks when he does it. He doesn’t know why, but every time he gets on the floor he feels a twang of embarrassment pierce his ego. He can imagine the way his lanky arms look when he brushes against the ground, the way his skinny legs flail behind him helplessly. He takes a deep breath and prays to god that no one looks over at him while he sacrifices his self-image.

“Ready! And…” Daichi begins loudly, encouraging all of the boys to follow behind him. One by one they all fall to the ground and slide, and Tsukki is the last to go. He huffs and crouches down to push off. _Slide.. Up… Slide… Up.._

As he gains momentum, the dives become easier and easier to complete and he wonders why he even hesitated to begin with. Mindlessly finishing the rest of his lap, he predicts about how many dives he has left before he’s done. _Maybe 3 or 4 more, lets make them goo—_

Then, faster than he can process, two players from Ubugawa cut off his path to home plate. But Tsukki’s already on the way down when he finally notices, and he crashes into the mesh of a volleyball shoe harder than he could’ve anticipated.

“Holy SHIT, are you okay man?” The players around him start to gather as he’s pulled to his feet by two different people on each side. Not many thoughts are going through Tsukki’s mind but a simple “ _Ow”_ and a “ _Why didn’t I move out of the way faster?”_ Somewhere in the crowd of voices he hears Hinata screech and it pulls him back into reality. Scanning the worried faces around him, he realizes all of the eyes are flickering between his eyes and his chin. _What? Is there something on my chin?_

_*trickle*_

Suddenly, something warm is traveling down his throat and he can already guess what it is. _Fuck._

Touching his finger to his neck just to be sure, he looks down and sees red painted all over his index finger. “Alright everyone he can stand, please let’s just get him to the infirmary. Stop crowding.” A familiar voice calls out, but Tsukki can’t quite match who it belongs to in this group.

A hand reaches reaches from behind him to guide him outside the gym. Once away from the crowd, he is finally able to match a face to the voice. Eyes widening in shock as he realizes that Nekoma’s Capitan, Kuroo is the one who pulled him away. Sputtering in embarrassment trying to find the right words, Tsukki asks if he’s going to be ok. He’s not sure really why he asked anyway, considering he didn’t really hit his head but rather his chin. He just assumes its deliriousness from shock.

Kuroo turns to look him in the eye for the first time, and Tsukki can’t help but look down. His eye contact is too intense, and he feels as though he is being scanned by the elder. Waiting in anticipation for a response, Tsukki almost flinches when he hears Kuroo chuckle.

“Yes, you’re going to be fine. Let me have a look.” They’re in the hallway outside of the infirmary now and Tsukki finally gains enough composure to look up at the other boy. Face to face, he can only help but imagine all of the things that Kuroo can see now that he is so close. His recovering acne breakout on his forehead or his sparse freckles on top of his nose that his mom used to spend hours scrubbing at when he was younger. Or maybe the blush that he was sure was tainting his pale skin. The overwhelming sense of insecurity already got him to look down again, and as his head is on the decline, a hand reaches out to stop him.

“Now how can I see your cut when you look down, Eh?” With Kuroo’s hand now on his chin, Tsukki is forced to look him straight in the face. In effort to distract himself from his own intrusive thinking, he takes notice of all of the prominent features on Kuroo’s face. The scar above his right eyebrow, the eyelashes guarding his eyes and the shape of his small smirk.

Tsukkishima's stomach almost drops at that, realizing the way Kuroo is looking at him. Almost like he knows he's being checked out. _What the …. Fuck??? Am I doing???_

Halting in his own tracks, he pushes past Kuroo and the awkward and tense moment they were sharing. Opening the door to the infirmary, Tsukki’s hand stops halfway down the doorknob and he opens his mouth.

“Thank you for your concern” He finishes coldly, to be sure Kuroo doesn't read into the interaction more than he already would. And without looking back, he enters the room to be greeted by a nurse startled by the condition of his face. She rushes to pull him closer and examines how deep the cut actually is. However, he doesn't experience the same adrenaline rush as he did when Kuroo was this close. 

As the heavy door finally shuts, Tsukki lets go of a breath he didn’t realize he was holding on to.


	3. Chapter 3

“ _Tsss_ ” Tsukki hisses at the pain, he’s always been afraid of the brown bottle of antiseptic. The nurse’s nimble hands move away from his chin, and she laughs quietly.

“I know it hurts, but please stop moving and I can get you out of here in a few minutes.” He nods in return, bracing himself by squeezing the chair he’s sitting on.

He’s out in three minutes as promised, with a large bandaid plastered on his chin. Thank god the cut wasn’t deep enough to need stitches, lord knows the last thing Tsukki needs is another thing to be insecure about.

The air in the hallway back to the gym is thick with tension, and he knows who’s on the other side of the metal doors. Why did things have to be so weird with everyone he meets? Why did he have to be so awkward and shifty and rude? Sometimes, although he would never admit it out loud, Tsukki envied Hinata’s ability to make friends. The way he could walk over to anyone and instantly raise a smile from them.Why couldn’t he do that?

Tsukki only has one real friend, Yamaguchi, who he absolutely adores. But he always fell short of letting him know that. Any way he would try to express his gratefulness to his friend would feel spoiled by his ineptitude for emotions. He always attributed this unfavorable trait to his father, who always expected emotionless sons. Although, Tsukki doesn’t think of this as much of an excuse, considering his older brother allowed himself to break free from that standard. But he wasn’t as strong as his older brother.

Every time he has tried to show his friend that he appreciates him, it’s almost as though he can feel his father’s hand across his face.

Taking it one slow movement at a time, Tsukki pushes the gym door open. As he walks past court after court, he can feel stares boring into his face. All of the eyes picking him apart mercilessly, scanning his body before settling on his now tainted face.

One shaky step after the other, he finds himself in front of his coach. Looking up to make eye contact, he notices a worried expression on the older man’s face.

“Tsukki-kun, are you feeling alright? It is okay to sit out if you want to take a breather.” Ukai gestures to the open spot next to him and Takeda smiles in agreement.

Tsukki nods and settles in on the bench when he hears timid footsteps approaching him from behind.

“Tsukki~ are you feeling alright?” Yamaguchi places his hand on his shoulder and peers over to his side profile, noticing the furrow in his brow. “I was really scared you know, I don’t think you have taken a hit like that since the tree incident”

Oh yea. The tree incident.

A twinge of guilt strikes Tsukki’s gut as he thinks back to that day.

During the summer between 6th and 7th grade, Tsukki and Yamaguchi had placed a bet (on three Kit Kat bars) to see who could climb farthest up a tree. Yamaguchi won by a landslide, reaching the very top of the tree in about 45 seconds. In defeat, Tsukki had let go of the tree branch he was holding on to to protest the exact number of Kit Kats he had promised, and fell straight to the ground head-first. With a large gash on his left cheek and a concussion, he stood up and walked all the way to the convince store - despite Yamaguchi’s protests to go to a hospital. With blood dripping onto the floor, he reached out to pay for the chocolate, and Yamaguchi sobbed exclaiming that he didn’t even want the Kit Kats anymore, but instead he just wanted his friend to go to the emergency room.

That’s really all that Tsukkishima can recall, because shortly after he blacked out from impact and blood loss. The stress he placed on his best friend’s shoulders that day was astronomical, and for Yamaguchi to compare this to that made him feel guilty that he didn’t at least say he was ok before leaving to the infirmary. The tree incident is a perfect example of the reason he _needs_ Yamaguchi, and always has. Even if his friend is at times emotionally overzealous and intoxicatingly caring, he knows that they balance each other out.

There was even a point in time where everyone thought the two were together, but Tsukki has never (not even subconsciously) thought of his friend in that way. Their relationship was too pure and platonic for any of them to gain feelings, but they understood why people might assume those things. Even though Yamaguchi is gay, he explains to everyone that Tsukki is not his type (which kind of hurt Tsukki’s feelings at first, but he gets it). They’ve always been a noticeable duo, almost a threatening force, a bond that made even the closest childhood friends question their relationship.

“I am fine, Yamaguchi. Stop worrying.” He turns to his unconvinced friend, who’s eyes bolt straight to the knot between his brows.

“I already told you to stop that Tsukki!” Yamaguchi begins to knead his pointer finger on his friends forehead, “Im glad you’re okay. Don’t scare me like that again” he finishes coldly, and Tsukki would almost be scared if it was anyone other than Yams.

Having about 3 minutes before their next practice match, Yamaguchi took a seat next to Tsukki and started talking about the new chapter of One Piece as Tsukki listened intently. The two were completely trapped in their own world, oblivious to the dark brown eyes watching their interaction closely.

As Karasuno lined up in front of the court for the match, Tsukki’s eyes peered over the net to scan the opposing team.

_You’ve gotta be kidding me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is kind of short, but i wanted to give more depth to tsukki's coldness and to him and yams' friendship! thank you for reading <3


End file.
